The Goodbye of a Legend
by Whiven
Summary: Naruto's finally been exiled from Konoha and nobody could stop it from happening. How will Naruto's friends handle it? And more importantly, what will Tsunade do now that she's lost another person who is precious to her? OneShot No Couples Sorry


**_I would like to apologize. I normally do not like sad stories and hate reading them, but there is something I've always thought about when reading about stories where Naruto was booted out of Konoha, so here it is. Have fun and don't hate me for this One-Shot. You have no idea how hard it is to end these kinds of stories. I had one hell of a time finding a good ending for this, but I did it, somehow, I hope you enjoy it.__Disclaimer:_**

**_I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege._**

**_The Great Goodbye_**

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It had finally happened... Naruto Uzumaki, the number one, hyper-active, knuckle head had been disbanded by Konoha after his second failed mission. The first was, the still fresh in everyone's mind, failed rescue of Uchiha Sasuke three years ago. He did his best but nobody really forgot about it and the council had made thoroughly sure to remember his failure. Add to that the fact that he had failed another mission that was difficult even for a team of Jounin, and the council fabricated it's own reason to remove from active Konoha Ninja status the former up and coming Naruto Uzumaki. They took his only profession, took away his friends, and took away his dream.

He had been offered a chance to go with Jaraiya to train, but he chose to stay and train with his friends. He learned something from many of them, but none of the skills he learned were able to help him on this mission. Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Hinata had been sent to find an S-Class Missing Ninja and came back late at night with nothing but, a near dead Hinata, a beaten and bruised Lee, and a Sakura with one shattered arm and twisted ankle, claiming that Naruto saved them. However, Naruto came back with torn clothes and holes everywhere, but not a single scratch because of Kyuubi's healing abilities, causing suspicion all throughout Konoha that the blonde had run away or hid until the end of the fight. The more sane of the council knew it was not his fault, and Tsunade fervently defended the boy, but none of it mattered to the majority of the council who hated the boy for the demon inside of him. He was thrown aside and kicked out of Konoha to appease the masses of Konoha, but not before one final prank.

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The day everybody woke up and looked towards the monument this morning, they were displeased to find a face painting the same size as the other faces. This one had spiky blonde hair, the all-too-common leaf headband, blue eyes, and three whisker marks along each cheek with 'Former Future Sixth Hokage' written above it. Above the face of Tsunade in great bold letters it read 'The Great Old Hag' Many saw this as an insult to Tsunade, but the said Hokage looked at it and smiled sadly as she started putting the finishing touches on a piece of paper. Ever since two years ago she had taken more to metal and marble desks since they stood better against her wrathful moments when Naruto had made her angry with his entrances, she now looked at the finely carved and polished marble desk with a sad look as a tear started down her cheek.

She quickly wiped the tear away as Shizune entered at her request. "Shizune, I would like you to tell all of the chuunin and jounin available to relay a message to everybody in the village about a village-wide speech this evening around 6:00PM." Shizune bowed, "Yes, Tsunade, I'll do that right now." Tsunade watched Shizune leave before calling him out of hiding, "You can come out now Jiraiya, you really should learn a new trick besides that Transparent Escape Jutsu." On cue the white haired sannin walked out of the shadows he was hiding in and looked Tsunade in the eye as he spoke, "Please do not do this Tsunade. I know you are angry about the council's decision. You are not the only one who's angry, but if you do this you'll virtually break the spirit of Konoha. Some of them deserve it, hell, most of them deserve it, but you can't do this! Not now!" Tsunade looked up, infuriated, "LIKE HELL I CAN'T!" Her fist came down on the desk leaving a crater in the marble desk as it started crumbling away where the crater had met the edges making Jiraiya flinch. "He's been this village's savior many times over, they should be on their knees begging him to stay, not the other way around!"

Jiraya looked at her sadly with a look or remorse on his face "This is just one of the difficulties of being the Hokage. Every Hokage will eventually see the people who are precious to them die or shamed. This is one of those times. You have to let it pass, you will feel better with time."

"NO!" She hit the desk again destroying what was left from the previous hit. She didn't bother hiding or holding in the tears that were now flowing. "Naruto showed me what it meant to be the Hokage, he made me proud of the position, he forced me to accept it when I was dead set against it, if it wasn't for him this village wouldn't even have a Hokage, or even be standing! The Fourth left no wish but this, 'That he be treated as a hero', but look at what they've been doing to him! I don't care if this village was created and led by my family, if this is how they treat 'heroes', then this village can go to hell!"

He stared at his former team mate, "I see... so there's no way to change your mind, then?" She shook her head, fist threatening to strike the rubble that had been her desk mere seconds ago. "Okay, I see that now, and will accept it. I'll watch out for Naruto, you don't need to worry about him. Just be sure to give the village a piece of your mind and make sure they learn from this. I'll tell you what Naruto asked me to tell you and leave okay?" She looked up suprised and nodded with a slight smile on her face. "He said that he's sorry he didn't get a chance to say goodbye, but he had some business to attend to. He also said that you can tell his friends and the rest of the village about the Kyuubi if you wish since it no longer matters." Her face reassumed the look of melancholy as she nodded. "Could you please wait for me, at least until after tonight before you leave? I want to speak to him myself." Jiraiya nodded and stepped aside as Tsunade stood up and walked past him as she thanked him and left to go to the Konoha Hospital to finish some work on her patients and leave instructions. The sooner she finished, the sooner she could leave and find the nearest bar to drink to her heart's content since she would have half a day to burn before the meeting after finishing up.

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"So Naruto managed to pull off another prank afterall. I thought he put that life past him long ago. So when are they going to chase him down and force him to clean it again?" Asked the pink hair kunoichi. Both her and Lee had been forced to stay in bed since they had gotten to the Hospital. Lee was going to be fine with alot of rest, and she was placed in the same room as him with a cast around her. Tsunade had visited them a while ago with a forced smile on her face and after giving them some medicine she left barely saying a word. "Naruto is by far the greatest prankster in all of Konoha, he will never be caught until he is sure that he has gotten away. Then they will go to Ichiraku's Ramen Stand and find him in his usual seat like they have always done in the past." Lee stated with less energy than he used to have. Being beaten to a pulp tends to do that, even for somebody with the power of youth. "There's just one thing I don't get though Lee." Lee looked at her confused, "And what is that Sakura?" Sakura looked at him with a troubled look on her face. "Why does it say 'The Former Future Sixth Hokage?" Lee's look changed from one of confusion to one of concern, "I do not know, but I will be back as soon as I find out." With that Lee disappeared as Sakura gave an envious look towards the space that had been occupied by the bushy browed taijutsu master. 'Why can't I heal that fast? I need to train with Naruto more when I get better, I'm sure some of his endurance will rub off eventually', she smiled at that as she saw Lee walk in with a grim look on his face. "Lee, what's wrong?"

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"Lord Hokage!" A messenger from the tower had found her at one of the few bars that were open in the morning working on her second bottle of sake. "The two conscious ninja that were with the Uzumaki kid on his last mission have been asking around for you so that they can resign! They keep saying that if he can't be a ninja, then they can't either! Please talk them out of it!" She gave the messenger a death glare warning him to leave her be for now. "Go. Now." The messenger turned ashen pale as he started backing up. "Y-yes Lord Hokage." He dodged a bottle just as it whizzed by. "Don't call me that! Now go!" He disappeared in a puff of smoke before a second bottle could follow.

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"AND THEY KICKED HIM OUT FOR THAT!?" Kiba had been on a rampage ever since he heard the news. "Why would they do that to him!? We've all failed before, and some of us have come back in worse conditions than that before, too!" His older sister was shaking her head, "You don't get it do you? This is a good thing for him, the people here hated him, and even the kids in his class hated him. He's probably better off on his own." Kiba's look went from angry to furious. "WHAT THE HELL!? NOW YOU TOO!? That's it! I'm going to see Tsunade! He fights harder than anybody else for this village! If he's kicked out then there's no way in hell I deserve to be a ninja, he deserves better! We may fight and argue, but he's still my friend, there's no way I'm gonna stand by and let this happen!" Before his sister could object he was out the door and halfway down the street with Akamaru beside him.

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Tenten and Ino had been talking while watching the flower shop when they heard the news and although neither knew him as well as the others did, they were friends of his as well. Ino was the first to speak their thoughts "I know he failed his mission, and that his team mates came back beat up, but if that's a crime, then I'm pretty sure more than half the ninja in this village are guilty, too! Even Shikamaru, and people at the academy practically worship the ground he walks on." The person who was talking to the two gasped after hearing this, "But he's practically a demon! Isn't the Hokage Monument's desecration proof enough for you kids?" Tenten answered for him this time, "He only did that for attention when he was little. If he had a few friends when he was younger that might not have happened. You know, just because he does pranks doesn't mean he's evil, if you ever listened to him you would know all he ever wanted was respect from the vilage." The woman scoffed, "That troublemaker was the scum of the earth! He shouldn't even be alive!" Before the two could say something back, the woman walked away grumbling. "Why do they hate him so much...?" Tenten asked nobody in particular. "I don't think they will ever really tell us... Hmm? Isn't that one of the messengers of Tsunade? I wonder what he's doing by the message board..." Ino looked in the direction she was looking and grabbed Tenten's hand "We'll never know unless we ask him now will we?" She started walking towards the messenger as he turned to the two, holding a bulletin for a meeting as he greeted the two.

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"Oh my head... Naruto!" The Hyuga girl quickly looked around the room to find she was in the hospital. "Um, excuse me!" Hinata spoke up when she saw a nurse pass by. "Hmm? Oh you're awake! This is very good news, I'm sure Hiashi will be very pleased." She said with a smile. "Your other two friends have been treated and have also woken up already. We didn't expect you to wake up so soon, your injuries seemed pretty extreme."

"Two? There was four of us, Lee, Sakura, and Naruto. They all came back didn't they?" The nurse nodded. "Yes they did, but upon receiving the report, Naruto was removed from the village's ninja roster and has also been removed from Konoha since yesterday." She said her smile waining as she saw Hinata turn pale and her face change from one of worry to one of horror. "Are you okay? You're turning pale." "Where is Naruto now!? Please tell me!" "Why what's he done to you?" Hinata looked at the nurse on the verge of tears, "Nothing! He's my friend! Now please tell me!" Hinata realizing what she was saying blushed and calmed down. The nurse was dumbstruck, she didn't think the boy even had any friends, much less anyone who would act like this. "Very well, I don't know where the boy is, but if anybody knows his whereabouts, it will most likely be Tsunade. I'll be back after I have told Tsunade or Shizune so she can find Tsunade." The nurse bowed respectfully to the girl before turning around to head out of the room. Before she reached the door, she heard the girl quietly say 'thank you' before she started crying. Maybe she was wrong about the boy, sure he played pranks every now and then in the past, but if somebody was this dedicated, even as just a friend, then maybe he wasn't as bad as everybody says he is. "Oh well, time to find Tsunade. I'm sure if anybody can find her and tell her everything, it will be Shizune."

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"And there was nothing you could do?" Shibi, Shino's father, shook his head. "They weren't willing to listen to reason. They are too focused on things that were out of Naruto's hands." Shino thought about this with a frown. "So is there anything at all we can do for him?" Shibi shook his head. "I heard in town that there's going to be a meeting. Do you think it's related?" Shibi nodded. "I'm not sure, but I think Tsunade is having more trouble with this than most of Naruto's friends." Shino thought about this for a moment nodding. "I will go to the meeting." His father simply nodded and continued on his way.

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Tsunade had finally finished drinking and was feeling less miserable when Shizune found her. "Shizune, what are you doing here? I thought that I told the last messenger to tell everybody I wished to be left alone." She sighed sadly, "I apologize for my rudeness, please, join me." Shizune walked in, setting Tonton down in her lap when she sat down. After a few moments of silence Shizune spoke up, "Hinata woke up. She's been crying since she heard about Naruto. She asked to see you as soon as she can. She needs comfort more than any of Naruto's friends."

Tsunade smiled sadly, "She always watched him admiration, pride, and even affection..." Although she did not possess the skill of the previous Hokage, Iruka had shown her how to use the crystal ball that Sarutobi had used to watch others and watched Naruto and his friends often. "I think she needs your help, Kurenai didn't know that much about Naruto, so she can't help as much this time. Tsunade, please. If not for her, for Naruto's sake. If he knew she was hurt, even half as much as she is, he would probably come back, rules or no. The same for any of his other friends." Tsunade nodded staring at her cup intently as Shizune continued. "Except for a few of the ones who barely know him, I think all of his friends have been on the rampage throughout the whole city since they heard. Even Neji was so pissed he almost seriously hurt Gai while training earlier." Tsunade looked up at Shizune curiously. "What else has been going on? I knew there was probably going to be trouble, but this sounds a bit bizarre, even for Naruto." This time Tonton nodded adding his "Buwei."

Shizune smiled, "Well, Lee, Sakura, and now Kiba are looking for you so that they can resign. Ino and Tenten have been scaring most of the people coming through their shops after hearing about people making fun of Naruto now that he's not here. Konohamaru and his friends Udon and Moegi have been copying Naruto's many pranks in honor of Konohamaru's 'Fallen Rival'. Nobody's heard from Shikamaru, but chances are even he will do something soon when he hears about it. Chouji considered going on a hunger strike even." Tsunade looked up shocked and almost lost her hold on her glass. "You're kidding, right?" Shizune shook her head. "So far he hasn't eaten a single bite, Asuma is going crazy trying everything he knows to get Chouji to eat short of shoving the food down his throat." An Akimichi not eating? That's more disturbing than a jackpot winning streak. "Konoha really is different without him here..." Both Shizune and Tonton nodded. "Maybe, but we were hoping that you could help set everything right... starting with the crying Hyuga girl." Tsunade shook her head. "I plan on helping a few, but outside of them, the only thing I plan on offering is a speech." Shizune gave her a confused look, but received no answer to her unasked question.

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She didn't know how long she had been crying, but it was long enough to not notice the Hokage walk in and watch the girl for a few minutes before coughing. "Hinata?" Hinata turned to the woman with red puffy eyes from constantly crying as tears still rolled down her cheeks. Tsunade moved next to the bed Hinata was resting in and moved herself down to eye level with the shy girl. "I know what you are going through right now, and there's alot that most of Naruto's friends don't know. I plan on making alot clear in the near future, but you deserve more than what I'm going to say." Hinata nodded, having calmed herself down enough to listen to what Tsunade was saying. "I'm sorry there wasn't more I could do to keep him from being kicked out the way he was. I tried as hard as I possibly could, but I wasn't able to stop the council's majority. Jiraiya is taking care of Naruto now and I'm going to help out, too." Hinata visibly brightened somewhat, but not enough to hide the sadness in her eyes. "I know that there aren't too many things that can make you feel much better, but if it makes you feel any better, he did get one last prank in before he left." Hinata visibly blushed and smiled, "What did he do?"

Instead of answering, Tsunade walked to the window and opened the curtains that had been closed to reveal the Hokage Monument causing Hinata to turn much redder. "Comedian until the end." Tsunade said as they both admired Naruto's artwork. "Will I be able to see him again?" Hinata looked at the blonde hopefully. Tsunade didn't turn around "I don't know. I'm going to be holding a village-wide meeting, you will be able to see and hear it through this window, and if you can, you should listen. There were a few things that Naruto wanted to say before he left, but couldn't because of the little time they gave him, and because you were in such critical condition during that time." Hinata looked out the window to the ground below, "What time is the meeting?"

"6:00 PM. If you see some other friends of Naruto, could you please tell them to calm down, at least until after the meeting?" Hinata nodded, though she doubted she would since she was still weak and doubted she could get up, much less see the others.

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"Thank you one and all for coming, the Hokage has called this meeting to say something that she finds very important. With that, I hand the podium over to you, Lord Hokage" The man who had just spoken bowed to Tsunade as he introduced her and walked back to his seat as she walked towards the podium and pulled out a piece of paper she had in her pocket. "I have served as Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves for the past three years." This was met with much yells and cheers, "But there a recent injustice that has come to my attention and despite my greatest efforts I have been unable to correct it, and now many throughout this village are in a state of pain and suffering because of it. You have all heard by now of Naruto Uzumaki, a former ninja of Konoha who has been living here since birth." Murmurs were heard throughout the village as many thought of the recent action against the Hokage Monument by the ninja in question.

"What I am here today to do is bring to light the injustice that has been done involving this former leaf village ninja. Many here have heard about the events that transpired here fifteen years ago on October 10th, you read about it and are taught to memorize it all throughout your younger years at the Academy." Many people of the younger generation nodded as those who knew more stayed silent.

"What you are not told is the true story behind the attack of Kyuubi. The Fourth Hokage did not kill the Kyuubi, but he did defeat the nine tailed beast or we would not be standing here today." All the faces in the crowd looked shocked, either from hearing the news or from the shock of law having been broken by the Godaime of Konoha. "Since the tailed demons cannot actually be killed by ordinary humans, even ones as powerful as the Yellow Flash of Konoha, he was sealed it into a new born child using a forbidden technique that is required the death of the user."This child was Naruto. Before the Fourth left to do this though, he had but one request of the village, and that was that Naruto would be treated as a hero for the burden of holding the Kyuubi at bay. This request was not honored by the village despite Naruto's best efforts to be recognized by everyone. Instead he was persecuted, abused, mistreated, betrayed, and in the end abandoned by those he protected and fought for every day. Naruto was time and again this village's savior and yet he was still treated with disrespect by most of this village. The only reason I stand here today is because he saved my life and made me realize that being the Hokage was an honor, and that to wish to become one was not a fool's dream, but the dreams of great shinobi with great futures. I stood as one of you, as close as any family and I would have protected you until the end, but you tossed one of your own, a shining example of greatness, aside because of the burden he faces every day."

The whole council who had been against Naruto during his removal began to give her looks of pure anger while those who had sided with her looked on half sadly and half proudly. They knew what she was about to do. "I stand here now to say that I no longer consider this position honorable and that I can no longer stand as one of you. I can no longer stay and help those who freely abused and gave up one of their own for a burden he dealed with his whole life. As such I resign as both Hokage of Konoha and as a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village, thank you." She left the podium, and disappeared in a puff of smoke before anybody could do anything.

The audience just stood there in awe watching as the smoke left by the Fifth dissipated until there was nothing left. Even as the man once again came and dismissed everybody, nobody was really listening or even talking amongst eachother, they were all too busy in their own thoughts about what their former savior had said, and of what was going to happen now that they were once again without a leader.

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There were two people on the side, hidden among the shadows, watching as the crowd thought over what had just transpired. "I didn't think you could actually pull it off. You put everybody out there who had hated Naruto in their place. Well, where to now? We can't exactly stay here anymore, and I'm sure the kid's getting annoyed waiting for me. If you want you could come with us." The blonde kunoichi looked at her former teammate and smiled. "Actually, I think I just might do that. I need to get my things from the tower and I also want to ask Shizune to stay here, she's learned everything she can from me, and she might be better off here." Two ANBU with tiger masks, one with black stripes and the other with orange along with the normal colors to show their rank, appeared in front of the two and bowed. The one with black stripes spoke first. "Lord Hoka--Er... Tsunade, would you like some help collecting your things from the tower? After hearing your speech a few of us decided we would help you if you would like." Tsunade smiled, "I would have thought that you would be angry at me for leaving." The two ANBU shook their heads as the one with orange stripes spoke, "We were often asked to protect him when the Third was alive, we've seen both who he actually is and how the village has treated him. We were unfortunately ordered by the council to not reveal ourselves to him, even as allies or the villagers might become more hostile to the us and our fellow ANBU." The one with black stripes on his mask spoke again, "We know your reason is just, and that you will probably not be the last to leave this village, we considered doing the same, but both chose not to since these people would be left defenseless. We're going to help anybody else who is leaving though." Tsunade nodded and smiled warmly at the two. "Thank you, I'm going to try to leave before tomorrow morning, could you please send it all to the West Gate?" Both ANBU nodded and disappeared.

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Shizune stood there jaw slack in disbelief as Tsunade started to walk out of the hospital. "W-wait! Tsunade! What about your patients? You're the only one who knows what to do with most of them! Can't you please stay?" Tsunade looked back sadly at her pupil and shook her head. "I'm sorry Shizune, but I can't stay here anymore, but you deserve a safe place to stay where you can be happy. The file I sent before the meeting was a form to reassign you as Head of the Konoha Hospital. You know just as much as I do, I've taught you everything I know." Shizune opened her mouth to speak again but was left with nobody to speak to as the Tsunade before her disappeared. "A shadow clone..." Shizune went to the office Tsunade had made in the hospital to find it was emptied of almost all the personal effects Tsunade had gathered together. "Damn she works fast..."

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A few of the ANBU met her as she arrived at the gate, each one carrying a small bag that they were emptying into a bigger duffle bag. "We made sure to take with us all of your personal effects that we could find. Here." The female ANBU handed Tsunade a duffle bag. "Is there anything else we can do before you go?" Tsunade smiled and shook her head, "You've done enough, all that I ask is that you find a better, more fitting Hokage in my place." She bowed once again and headed out of the village, meeting the two arguing people who were closer to family than anybody else in the world.

"So are you two going to keep arguing about dinner or can we start going?" The two stopped to look at her before smiling and joined her. "So where are we going anyways?" Naruto asked with his expectant smile. Tsunade shrugged and looked at Jiraiya who looked just as confused. "I think I heard some good things about the Land of Waves recently, and last I heard they still consider you a hero after helping them out those years ago Naruto." Naruto made his famous grin and started cheering as he pulled the two along as quickly as he could. "You seem pretty happy Naruto, I figured you would be sad after being kicked out of your own village." Naruto lost his grin as he nodded. Jiraiya whispered into her ear, "Please don't talk about that. I spent the last twenty-four hours trying to stop his crying, it hurt him pretty bad, but I managed to calm him down enough for him to act normal."

Tsunade nodded and turned back to Naruto giving him the brightest smile she could muster and picked up everything they had. "Well no use hanging around here, I have a feeling a mob is going to chase after us if we don't get moving soon, which reminds me." She turned to the miserable looking Naruto, "Thanks for the artwork." Naruto looked at her for a second before his famous grin made it's way to his face, "Thanks, granny!" SMASH! Naruto hit the ground hard as his head met with the less than pleased fist of Tsunade. "Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that!?" She yelled at him raising her fist angrily at him. Her anger quickly subsided as she smiled and helped him back up, "So are we going or not?" Both blondes looked at the toad sage as if he had grown a third ear before picking up their things and chasing after him leaving a quick goodbye for the ANBU that had helped them.

The ANBU with the orange striped tiger mask had a sweat drop roll down the side of her mask "They act just like family, ya know?" The other with a tiger mask nodded, "Yeah, the question is what kind?" this caused the sweat drop to double in size. "Let's head back before everyone notices we're missing. "Okay." All the other ANBU dropped their transformation jutsus to reveal the same masks, and poofed away as the shadow clone jutsu wore off. "I wonder if the rest of our team was able to cover for us." They both had grins hidden by their masks as they flickered away back into the city.

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In the hospital sat the crying indigo haired young lady. She had heard the whole speech and was now in tears as she reflected back on everything that had happened. Every trial she had seen him go through, every thing he had lived with, and every person that had hated him. She also looked back on the fights she had seen him in, he had such strength inside and to hold something like that in, too. She had been so focused on her thoughts she didn't notice the new head of the hospital walked in and sat down beside her until her animal friend Tonton spoke up "Buwei." Hinata jumped halfway out of her bed when she heard the sound and turned many shades of red at having not noticed Shizune sitting there.

"Hello Hinata, I guess you heard everything..." Hinata nodded. "I'm sorry, I wish I could help you, but chances are there's nothing we can do... but..." Hinata looked at her quickly with a glimmer of hope in her white eyes. "Y-yes?" Shizune smiled as the life returned to the little girl's face. "Well... you aren't the only one who's sad about what happened to Naruto, so I decided to ask some of the others for help with a little 'project' I decided to start." Hinata gave her a confused look as Shizune stood up and walked over to the window. The look changed to one of shock and happiness as she realized what Shizune was talking about. Under normal circumstances when a mess is made, the person who made it is supposed to clean it. This time though, that person wasn't able to come clean it up so it wasn't cleaned up yet... And if Shizune was saying what Hinata thought she was saying, it probably won't. "Are you sure we can? Wouldn't we get in trouble?" Shizune shook her head, "Not in the near future, first they would need to find somebody willing to take it down, and I doubt half of the village wants to after that speech. Second they would need to find the people who are fixing it to stop." "The people who are--you mean us?" Shizune nodded. "Okay, I will do what I can." Shizune smiled, "Okay but until then you need to get some rest since you still aren't even able to walk." Hinata nodded and laid back down in her hospital bed as Shizune got up to walk out. "Oh and before I go, I just wanted to tell you that I have one extra picture of Naruto, I think if anybody deserves it, it's you. I'll leave it on the stand next to the door." She placed a framed picture next to the door of a suprised but pleased looking Naruto with some ramen mere inches from his mouth. "Good night Hinata."

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All of Naruto's friends had stayed behind despite the fact that the meeting had ended and were all talking to eachother in circles trying to figure everything out. "That explains how he was able to fight back so hard even after he was out of chakra all the time." Neji said. "No, if I know Naruto, he would have kept going past that even if he had time kill himself doing it" Everybody nodded except for Kiba, Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino who each gave their own approving sounds of gestures. "Now that we know, has anything really changed? I mean we all know him well enough to know that Naruto is still Naruto no matter what's inside of him. If anything we just respect him more for it." Shikamaru said.

Although many people had figured it out during the day, Shikamaru had found out before almost everybody since he was the one that had helped Naruto pack while he was out painting and doing everything else. Normally he wouldn't have done it, but he owed Naruto for multiple favors including helping get him and a certain blond-haired sand ninja together in private without the others getting suspicious. Since he had spent all night helping Naruto he had slept in all day until the meeting.

"Yeah, and now I remember that fight with that missing ninja we fought before Naruto was..." Sakura didn't have to finish as she looked up at Lee who was helping her get around in the wheelchair. "I remember seeing him during the fight, he was almost always fighting and getting hit over and over. I thought I heard popping and kept seeing his body twist awkwardly, but I thought it was only because I was almost unconscious and was seeing things. Lee was already out and Hinata had been trying to get into the fight but was hit by two very powerful jutsu that would have killed a normal person. If Naruto hadn't convinced Neji to teach her the Kaiten then she wouldn't even be alive now." Neji looked at her suprised. "Everytime he got back up, even after getting hit by a jutsu or just plain out getting hit, he got back up and stood for a second almost looking more and more feral each time and attacked again. The last thing I saw before passing out was Hinata and Lee out cold and Naruto slamming a wierd looking Rasengan into the guy's back when he went after us."

"So, he used the demon inside of him, to save you?" Everybody turned around to find Ebisu standing behind Konohamaru. "I knew he had the nine-tailed fox inside and that it added greatly to his almost inhuman stamina and chakra reserves, but to use the Kyuubi's power directly in such a way, and to use it to save his friends," he paused for a second with a slightly troubled look on his face, "I'm sorry I ever doubted him."

"Well, if you want to make it up to him I have a proposition for you." This time Shizune appeared almost as if out of nowhere with a smile on her face as she faced the group of Naruto's friends. "What do you mean Shizune?" Shikamaru asked, knowing there was no bluff behind her words. Shizune simply smiled wider as she looked towards the Hokage Monument. "I kinda like seeing Naruto's face on the monument, wouldn't you agree?" A few devious grins appeared in the crowd as she started to explain her proposition to the group.

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The next day everybody in Konoha woke up to find that although many of the things on the Hokage Monument were erased, one thing in particular wasn't, in fact it was not just there anymore. Naruto's face had been repainted to accentuate his hair, eyes, and whiskers. The biggest difference between yesterday's and today's message was clear. Instead of 'The Former Sixth Hokage' it was written even bolder than the day before 'The Greatest Guardian of Konoha'.

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**_Ta-dah! That's it, I'm not much of a fan of this kinda stuff, but it's something that popped into my head. I didn't like how it turned out, but that's okay I guess since it turned out okay in the end._**


End file.
